1. Aug 27, 2012 #1

   SpartanG345

   

   Hi
   
   My textbook mentions
   
   "We know that in an electrostatic situation (with all charges at rest) the electric
   field at every point in the interior of a conducting material is zero. If E were
   not zero, the excess charges would move"
   
   Can this actually be true since charges can still be moving around at constant speeds...
   When they say 'all charges' do they mean excess charges you have introduced to the neutral system?

    

   SpartanG345, Aug 27, 2012
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3. Aug 27, 2012 #2

   gabbagabbahey

   

   Homework Helper

   Gold Member

   If the charges were moving at constant speeds, it wouldn't be an electrostatic situation.
   
   Since a perfect conductor has the property that there are an unlimited number of completely free charges, any electric field inside the conductor would force the free charges to move around until eventually there was no field (and no force on them since F=qE).

    

   gabbagabbahey, Aug 27, 2012

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